Hogen - Making Sense of Japanese Dialects

If you have raised children in Japan you may have heard the song “Dendera Ryūba”. The song, which is often featured on NHK’s Nihongo-de Asobo (lit. "Let’s Play in Japanese"), originated in Nagasaki and is sung in the northern Hichiku dialect, which is spoken in western Kyūshū including in Fukuoka where it is called Hakata-ben (博多弁). The name Hichiku (肥筑) is derived from the names of the old provinces in the region: Hizen (肥前), Higo (肥後), Chikuzen (筑前) and Chikugo (筑後).

でんでらりゅうば (が)

でてくるばってん

でんでられんけん

でーてこんけん

こんこられんけん

こられられんけん

こーんこん

Dendera ryūba,

Detekuru batten,

Denderaren ken

Dētekon ken,

Konkoraren ken,

Korareraren ken,

Kōn kon

In standard Japanese:

(自分の家を) 出られるならば、

出て行くけれど、

出られないから、

出て行きません。

(そちらの家) 来られないから (つまり→行けないから)、

来られないから (つまり→行けないから)

来ません、来ません (つまり→行けない、行かない)

Translation:

If I can leave (my home),

I’ll go out, but . . .

I can’t go out, so . . .

I can’t go to (your home), so . . .

I won’t go. I won’t go

A few things are worth noting here. One, in the western Japanese dialect (not sure about other areas) kuru (来る, to come) also has the meaning of iku (行く, to go), and people say ima-kara kuru (今から来る), when they mean “I’m leaving now” or “I’m on my way”. This is similar to “I’m coming now” in English and I have never felt it awkward the way some transplants from outside do when they hear it.

Also,

-ken (けん) is similar to kara (から) in standard Japanese and means “because, since, for, as”.